Pope Allows Raphael’s Madonna to Leave Vatican, Visit Sister

By Catherine Hickley -
Sep 12, 2011

It took an act of papal
intervention for Raphael’s “Madonna of Foligno” to leave the
Vatican and travel to Dresden, where she is on show alongside
her sister, the “Sistine Madonna,” for the first time.

Though the Madonna is one of the artworks that, on
principle, never leaves the Vatican Pinacoteca, the pope allowed
an exception to be made. Dresden’s Gemaeldegalerie Alte Meister,
housed in the sandstone grandeur of the Baroque Zwinger palace,
is using the occasion to show the Raphaels with Madonnas by
Albrecht Duerer, Lucas Cranach and Matthias Gruenewald among
others.

The “Sistine Madonna,” which turns 500 next year, is
Dresden’s best-known painting and arguably one of the most
famous paintings in the world. Arguably, because it’s not the
Madonna herself -- beautiful though she is -- who features on
myriad mouse mats, umbrellas, cups, Christmas cards, fridge
magnets, labels of sparkling wine and serviettes.

It’s the two impossibly cute cherubs resting on a ledge at
the bottom, looking up at her with bored expressions on their
angelic faces, who get all the attention.

Waiting for Jesus

They almost look like an ironic footnote, commenting on the
action above them. Raphael’s purpose -- painting them in waiting
poses -- was probably to emphasize the great distance Mary had
to travel with Jesus to arrive among mankind from the distant
heavens.

It was the Foligno Madonna who first grabbed the fancy of
the Saxon elector and Polish king, August III. In 1750, his
court sent an agent to the Umbrian town of Foligno to buy the
painting. He returned empty-handed. Four years later, August
acquired the Sistine Madonna.

It took a while for her popularity to catch on: Not until
about 1800 was the painting discovered by a wider public. Guess
which bit was first copied back then? Yes, those two cherubs,
who went on to conquer the world.

Raphael painted the two Madonnas at around the same time --
between 1511 and 1513 -- and it is likely they hung alongside
each other in his studio. This is their first reunion since.

Family Resemblance

There can be no doubt they are related, though the Sistine
Madonna is tinged brown by an aging lacquer, while the Foligno
Madonna, which has been restored recently, has lush reds and
blues that shine from the canvas.

Like the Sistine Madonna, Mary rests on a cloud, yet here
she is lit from behind by the sun. The cloud appears solid
enough to support her and Jesus, who seems to be struggling to
get down from her lap, as toddlers do.

Raphael’s rough-looking John the Baptist sports a bearskin
and wild hair, though his beard is neatly trimmed. He points to
the Madonna in a gesture that inspired Leonardo da Vinci to
paint John in a similar pose.

On the right is the elderly Sigismondo dei Conti, who
commissioned the painting. A secretary to the pope, his head is
stroked protectively by St. Jerome, a previous holder of the
same post. An angel in the middle holds up an empty plaque that
probably signifies the promise of the afterlife.

Orange Dash

A dash of bright orange light on the central townscape
remains a mystery -- it is not clear whether it represents a
fateful moment in the life of dei Conti, or whether the town is
supposed to be Bethlehem, and the light the guiding star.

Curiously, the picture was saved through being stolen.
Napoleon’s troops looted it from Foligno in 1797 and took it to
Paris, where restorers undertook an urgent repair job,
transferring the Madonna from wood to canvas.

Without that theft, she may well have disintegrated in an
obscure Italian church, instead of becoming a jewel in the
Vatican’s crown.

“Heavenly Splendour,” as the Madonna exhibition is
called, is on show through Jan. 8, 2012. Next year, Dresden
plans an exhibition about the Sistine Madonna to coincide with
the painting’s 500th birthday.

Visitors shouldn’t miss the opportunity to visit another
small yet wonderful show in the Gemaeldegalerie Alte Meister:
Bernardo Bellotto’s newly restored “View of Dresden from the
Right Bank of the Elbe Beneath the August Bridge” is displayed
alongside other views of the city by the artist.

(Catherine Hickley writes for Muse, the arts and leisure
section of Bloomberg News. The opinions expressed are her own.)